Charles Boyle

Poet

Charles Boyle’s publications include poetry, fiction and work that combines fiction with non-fiction. His poetry collections have been shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot, Forward and Whitbread prizes; the most recent is The Age of Cardboard and String (2001). His other work includes a short novel, 24 for 3, which won the 2008 McKitterick prize (for best first novel by a writer over 40); a collection of short stories, The Manet Girl (2013); and two books combining text and photography, Recessional (2009) and Days and Nights in W12 (2011).

He worked as a production editor in mainstream publishing for many years, including a period of 14 years at Faber, before going freelance in 2005, and in 2007 he founded the small press, CB Editions, whose titles have won five literary awards (for poetry, fiction and translation). In 2011 he organised Free Verse, a one-day event in London at which more than 50 independent poetry publishers display and sell their work direct to the public, which has since become an annual event.